Just a reminder that this is my observation not meant to be rude or judgmental. Your opinions are your own.
Finishing the physical was exhausting for me. I am sure for Honey as well. We talked to a lot of Filipinas going through the process and listened to their stories. Made the day go by a bit faster. Several, including some Honey knew, failed their physicals or didn’t have all the correct papers. One girl failed because she smoked a cigarette just before she took her x-rays. Another had her NBI clearance from Davao instead of Manila on certified paper.
We spent a lot of time at Robinson’s Mall several blocks from St. Luke’s and our hotel. I thought just for the fun of it I thought I would list all the American restaurants in that mall.
Burger King
Dairy Queen
Dunkin’ Donuts
Friday’s
Kentucky Fried Chicken
Marie Calendar’s Cookies
McDonalds
PaPa John’s Pizza
Pizza Hut
Shakey’s
Sbarro’s
Subway
Wendy’s
Most common food served at all was “spaghetti and chicken”. We have eaten at Fridays, Wendy’s, McDonald’s with not too happy results. Sbarro’s and Subways were “just like home”. The Dairy Queen only serves ice cream no hamburgers and extras like the States.
We attempted to go to Glorietta Mall and ended up going through a sales presentation for saving money. I guess for Filipino standards it was okay but nothing near a 401K plan. I had planned on doing some looking around the Makati area but missed out because of listening to the presentation. There are really some awesome and modern buildings there. I am very impressed with the architecture. I am trying to see if they use automation controls on their A/C and whose.
When we got back we called the Embassy and they told us that it would be at least 3 weeks before the visa would be through processing and that it had to be delivered to the address on the application. I have made some attempts to bypass the system. Not sure how it will turn out.
We wanted to go to Boracay and Baguio but are unsure if we should leave without knowing the outcome of our request for special consideration on the visa process.
The traffic is still beyond compare. We had to drive to a PLDT location to call the embassy on the 1-909-101-0011 number. It was amazing. I thought at one point our driver and another rather well off local were going to get into it. Our driver had cut across 5 lanes to turn left because he was about to miss his turn and the other guy had to lock his brakes to avoid hitting us. Probably spent half the day in taxi's.
At the Robinson mall, there is a place on the 2nd floor where they sale/repair and exchange cell phones. Since we thought we would not need Honey’s cell phone we left it with her family in Davao. But now we see she needs it. I was able to purchase her a Philips “Smart” cell phone for less than $40. If you intend to be in the R.P. for 2 weeks a cell phone for $40 is pretty awesome, even if you never use it again.
Well, got a lot to do so more to come.
Bear
